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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Preparation of Carbon Nanosheets at Room Temperature
Published on: March 8, 2016
High-Density Modification of H-Terminated Si(111) Surfaces Using Short-Chain Alkynes
Sidharam P Pujari1, Alexei D Filippov1, Satesh Gangarapu1
1Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University , Stippeneng 4, 6708 WE Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
H-Si(111)-terminated surfaces were alkenylated via two routes: through a novel one-step gas-phase hydrosilylation reaction with short alkynes (C3 to C6) and for comparison via a two-step chlorination and Grignard alkenylation process. All modified surfaces were characterized by static water contact angles and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Propenyl- and butenyl-coated Si(111) surfaces display a significantly higher packing density than conventional C10-C18 alkyne-derived monolayers, showing the potential of this approach. In addition, propyne chemisorption proceeds via either of two approaches: the standard hydrosilylation at the terminal carbon (lin) at temperatures above 90 °C and an unprecedented reaction at the second carbon (iso) at temperatures below 90 °C. Molecular modeling revealed that the packing energy of a monolayer bonded at the second carbon is significantly more favorable, which drives iso-attachment, with a dense packing of surface-bound iso-propenyl chains at 40% surface coverage, in line with the experiments at <90 °C. The highest density monolayers are obtained at 130 °C and show a linear attachment of 1-propenyl chains with 92% surface coverage.
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